Firefighters stood guard outside some of the country’s most renowned vineyards and the homes that surround them Friday as the Glass Fire continued to encroach on the communities of Calistoga and St. Helena — the heart of California’s famed Wine Country.
The blaze has engulfed more than 60,000 acres, burning most actively in the hills north of Calistoga and east of St. Helena. As a layer of hot, dry air helped to fuel the flames overnight, the blaze caught onto any fuel it could touch, Cal Fire said Friday. But the wind stayed calmer than anticipated, providing crews some relief and allowing them to increase the fire’s overall containment to 6%.
Crews reported progress near the Highway 12 corridor, said Cal Fire Battalion Chief Mark Brunton, and have successfully staved off flames from entering the city of Santa Rosa. Despite the steep terrain near Highway 29, the fire has likewise yet to jump the roadway. There were no changes to mandatory evacuation orders.
Outside Calistoga, however, it’s been tougher to beat back hotspots, Brunton said. At least one home outside St. Helena was meanwhile among the 220 residences to have burned down, while a house on the 1300 block of Tucker Road was engulfed late Thursday as flames jetted out windows of both its two stories.
“It’s been very difficult for us to place control lines in there,” Brunton said. “We’ve been having to go structure by structure.”
To the north, firefighters have had more luck against the Zogg Fire, a similarly fast-moving inferno that has killed four people. Each blaze broke out Sunday, but Cal Fire reported 46% containment of the blaze in Shasta County following “another successful day that increased containment,” according to Cal Fire.
The Glass Fire has been more destructive than the Zogg Fire, which has damaged or destroyed 180 structures and torched 56,000 acres, but not more deadly; there has yet to be an injury or fatality reported in the Glass Fire.
Although offshore winds were less severe than forecasted, a red-flag warning remained in effect in the North Bay mountains, East Bay hills and Santa Cruz mountains through Friday. The heavy haze over the region was expected to see some “gradual clearing” Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
Even after midnight, temperatures around the region hovered above 80 degrees. Closer to the fire line, it was still about 90 degrees at 12:45 a.m. Friday, according to the NWS.
As flames threatened St. Helena and Calistoga from the west and east late Thursday night, a strike force from the San Jose Fire Department prepared to defend the AXR winery a few hundred yards west of Highway 29 between the two towns. Flames were approaching the winery down a steep, forested hillside.
“The fire up on the hill’s going to come right down to us,” said Battalion Chief Brett Maas, who added that the wildfire strike team composed entirely of the San Jose department’s firefighters was a first in the department’s history outside the city.
Predicted high winds for the afternoon weren’t as severe as expected, and the team’s 22 firefighters, with five engines, were able to save three homes and two outbuildings above the winery, Maas said.
On the eastern edge of Calistoga, fire crews were scrambling to extinguish fire that swept down a grassy, oak-dotted hillside, consuming several structures and a dump truck beside Highway 29.
By 9 p.m., the flames threatening the AXR winery were still slowly approaching, but firefighters were confident the work they had done, including wetting down surrounding areas and moving flammable materials such as outdoor furniture and awnings away from buildings, would help ensure the winery was saved.
“We have a good perimeter around it,” Maas said. “We have an engine in there.”
So far this year, fires have already scorched approximately 4 million acres in California — twice the previous record, about five times the size of Yosemite National Park — with peak fire season just now arriving as the calendar turns to October.
